Winjama: The Day After or The Day After That

Ok, ok. I can take a hint. I'd love to blame my tardiness on updating the blog to losing power. Unfortunately, BEL has been really good about keeping the power on since the hurricane. What I will blame it on is having to replace the water heater, which crapped out during the hurricane, a chili dinner party last night, thrown by Bob, and having to cruise around town to see the damage. Oh, and maybe just a little laziness on my part, but that couldn't be, could it?

Anyway, this bit is going to be mostly pictures of the aftermath with some descriptions. Also, I'm working out how to get you to be able to view all the rest of the pictures (that I don't use on the blog), just in case you want to bore yourself with a slideshow sometime.

This first section is some shots of the damages at Tony's place, where we're staying. The house came through just fine. The trees really took it in the shorts however.

Just outside the gates, Kimberly's place to the left

More damages around the place. The generator was knocked over on its side. It weighs enough that it takes two men to hoist it back into position. Beside it is a shot of some of the coconut palms that suffered mightily.

Generator Knocked Over by Winds

Coconut Palms Knocked Over by Winds

During the storm - actually, at the beginning, we had a band come through with terrific thunder and lightning, scaring Tanya completely. She wanted inside in the worst way, so we let her in. The shot at left is her hiding from the lightning. The one to the right was taken several hours later, she's just plain sleeping through the hurricane.

Tanya Hiding

Tanya Sacked Out

Here's some more of the damages at Tony's place. Trees and the palapa really bit it big time.

More Tree Damage

Fan Palm Damage - Greg's boats in background

The palapa really got hit. It's still up, but will definitely have to be completely rebuilt. The thatch is literally falling out all the time (I don't think it was double-tied) and it's pretty shaky in winds now.

Palapa Debris

Caving In

Clean up is a major activity nowadays. Here's Cootch (Cody's brother-in-law) taking a break from chopping fallen coconut palms, and Dianna discussing cleanup with Cody's brother, Anthony.

Cootch on One of the Downed Palms

Dianna and Anthony Talking About the Storm

Another shot of the growing hole in the roof of the palapa, and some more coconut palm damages.

Not the Ozone Hole

Leaning Trees of Belize

The miracle of regeneration... Here's the banana palms freshly cut on the left, and after about an hour on the right. You can see they've grown about 5 or 6 inches already (I just looked out the window - they've now grown about 4 feet and have new leaves sprouting after 3 days!).

Banana Palms on the mend

Banana Palms on the mend - They Grow So Fast You Can Almost Watch Them

More Banana Palms

Trimmed and Untrimmed

I think this one was posted already, showing some of the tree damage.

Tree Damage

Here's some shots of our property on the canal. Barb asked about the trees at the back of the place, across the canal. I think at the best, they'll have to go through some severe pruning with quite a few having to come down.

There's also a shot of the septic tank pit, filled with debris and water. Of course, it's still raining today (Wednesday) so there's no work being done on it today.

Leaning Trees

the Mystery Pit

At the street side of our lot, we only had one tree fall over. We're going to try to save it - see if we can prop it up so it can keep growing.

Front of the Lot

A few folks had asked about the canal - here's a couple of shots showing some of the tree damage lining the canal. Mangroves will need trimming and the fir? trees will need some of the same treatment.

Canal Damages

For those of you betting as to whether I am growing a pony tail or not, I offer the below photo. Make your own judgement...

Is That a Tail?

Here's the view from Paul's upstairs vantage. His mango tree and several others bought it.

The View From Paul's

Bob's place suffered some damages - trees as usual and his palapa covering the old boat. To the right, although it's hard to see in this view, the palapa covering Greg and Connie's place has collapsed totally. It'll soon have a completely different look to it.

Bob's Place

Greg and Connie's Place

This view is a bit more dramatic. You can see the palapa is gone, and the gable-end of the house has fallen to the ground.

Greg and Connie's Place

Here's several shots showing various damage locations around town. The pictures with soldiers in them are of the Belize Defense Forces helping clear debris and downed trees. They've worked quite hard to bring Corozal back.

Marin Electric

Downtown Central Square

I took a shot of Dreams, a wedding reception sort of place on the north end of town and some awnings for stores adjacent to the Central Square downtown.

Dreams

and Awnings

Debris clearance is big activity in Corozal. Every day there's huge dump trucks moving through loaded with stuff for the dump. Telephone and light poles lean at interesting angles all over town. BEL and BTL are busy trying to right them or replace them as necessary.

Debris Clearance

Leaning Poles of Corozal

Here's a local "stick-built" house showing typical damage and the Corozal Civic Center and Sports Complex showing some of it's roof damages.

Stick House

and Civic Center

More damage, and more damage...

The Police Station

Pole Down

Here's a radio tower taking a bow for its performance. And to the right, is Mrs. June's Kitchen - one of our favorite places to go for breakfast.

Radio Tower

Mrs. June's

This traditional Belizean house near Nigel and Jenni's - we were all sure it was going to blow away in the storm. It obviously suffered only minor damage to the roof. Amazing!

Local House and Damage

Here's the troops assembled at the park near Marin Electric in Corozal.

Soldiers of the BDF at Work

Soldiers of the BDF at Work Clearing Debris

A Mennonite house near Mae and Craig's place with the only damage suffered to the fence.

Mennonite House

The rest of the shots are of Mae and Craig's Mennonite house. It lost part of the roof to the addition that was added (not done by Mennonite workers). Their yard, which was their pride and joy, suffered a major hit.